Fuzzy shrub, alternate leaves

There were no flowers when I came across this shrub in George Wainborn Park, maintained by the Vancouver Park Board, so this plant could be anything, common or rare. I thought the round stipules, and maybe the white leaf backs, might be distinctive enough for an ID.

 

A willow of some sort; one related to European Salix caprea (Goat Willow), with similar pubescence and leaf shape, but differing in more persistent stipules (recalling another European willow Salix triandra, except that has narrower leaves). Not sure about what willows are native in the area, I'd guess this is one of them, likely self-sown.

Edit: check out Salix discolor, that looks to be your local native willow most closely related to S. caprea.

 

Thanks, Michael. I didn't think of willow at all, even though I bought a book on catkin-bearing plants of BC two or three years ago and read it cover-to-cover at the time. The Salix discolor page does show one stipule in the drawing that's like what I photographed, something I thought was the main feature. The description, though, begins with "Twigs glabrous or soon becoming so", definitely not the impression I had (note thread title). I have looked more closely and did manage to capture a glabrous bit of branch. I didn't measure the leaves, but I think they were longer than the 3-10cm in the description. I was also not convinced by leaf margins "coarsely crenate to entire", but again, I found a few entire margins in the same first photo here. What about leaves "glabrous to brownish-hairy"? I'm not finding any hint of brown in my photos. The older leaves are glabrous and "glaucous beneath" as described.
It does make sense that the Park Board would plant a pussy willow.

 

If we go with the assumption that the mystery is locally adapted or of local origin Salix discolor is basically a continental species in B. C.

CPNWH Search Results (pnwherbaria.org)

Albeit without checking every involved aspect I suspect your plant might turn out to be Salix hookeriana x scouleriana.

http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242445738

 

We don't really have to assume local origin for Park Board plantings. It's planted quite near a Decaisnea.

 

Ah, you added that after I replied. Also a pussy willow, but with prominent stipules. I like that part. The S. hookeriana drawing in my book shows only entire margins and most leaves without acuminate tips or tips just barely so.
The book is Brayshaw, T. Christopher, Catkin-Bearing Plants of British Columbia, Victoria, BC, Royal British Columbia Museum, 1996.

 

The suggestion was made that it popped up on its own.

 

So I just learned that distinctive-looking stipules like the ones shown here are not unique to willows. Here is a posting showing them on Chaenomeles. What shrub is this? | UBC Botanical Garden Forums